Astronomy And Religion

While searching the internet the other day, I was interested to come upon an article called 'History Of Astronomy' which appeared on an easy to follow website at Astronomy Trek.com.

In the article it was interesting to learn about mankind's struggle for a deeper understanding of the nature of the Universe and how, despite Aristrachus of Samos proposing a heliocentric model of the Sun and planets in 280 B.C., the idea that all objects in the heavens revolved around the Earth was generally accepted until the later part of the 17th century A.D.

At the heart of the misunderstanding seemed to be religion's conceit that man, as God's crowning glory, should occupy a place at the centre of creation. Aristotle was at the forefront of Western science until the 1500's and his belief that the Earth was stuck and imperfect, while the heavens were perfect and free to move around in space also became a doctrine of the Catholic Church until evidence to the contrary was produced by such renaissance giants as Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo.

Even then religion wasn't ready to give up its claim to hold all the answers and, as mentioned in the article, in 1632, "Galileo was tried by the church for heresy, forced to recant his theories and was condemned to spend the rest of his life under house arrest."

Eventually there was no holding back the tide of progress and with the church's waning power, having been helpless to prevent the devestating plagues which ravaged Europe, people started placing more faith in medecine, science and the clever inventions which began to appear.

Galileo's refracting telescope and Newton's reflector (seen above)  also helped usher in a new Age of physics and Enlightenment. It was quite interesting to note, however, that it wasn't until 1922 that Galileo was finally absolved by the Vatican for his views. Better late than never I suppose.